The First Digital Transformation Ecosystem in Mexico: Monterrey Digital Hub

July 13, 2018

MONTERREY, Mexico--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 12, 2018--With the objective of positioning Monterrey as Mexico’s tech hub, the Monterrey Digital Hub opened its doors today. This is the first digital transformation ecosystem in the country to gather leading companies and academic institutions, entrepreneurs, and digital talent committed to revolutionize organizations and communities through technology and digital business models.

The Monterrey Digital Hub is an initiative of ALFA, Arca Continental, Banorte, CEMEX, Deacero, FEMSA, IBM, NEORIS, Tecnológico de Monterrey, UANL, and UDEM, leading companies and academic institutions that share the vision of promoting Mexico’s transformation through corporate innovation, collaboration with entrepreneurial ecosystems, and the development of digital talent to capitalize on emerging opportunities in the global environment.

The Monterrey Digital Hub offers spaces designed to create a digital transformation community, with a fast and dynamic learning system enabled by digital technologies. Its Learn, Work, Connect methodology, designed in collaboration with recognized organization, Galvanize—the Denver, Colorado, based learning community for technology—enables interaction between entrepreneurs, investment funds, digital talent, universities, organizations, and accelerators, among other actors, to generate knowledge, opportunities, and growth.

Members of the Hub are part of a unique ecosystem in which a community of knowledge and experience transfer is created through bootcamps and workshops in digital skills, specialized mentoring, and programs of open and corporate innovation, among other initiatives.

The organizational and community transformation generated by the Monterrey Digital Hub is expected to position the city of Monterrey on the level of key tech hubs globally.

“We are very pleased to be part of this initiative, together with renowned companies and academic institutions, that will foster and capitalize the combination between technology and entrepreneurial spirit of current and future generations, to keep promoting the development of our communities,” affirmed Álvaro Fernández Garza, CEO of ALFA.

“At Arca Continental, we consider digitalization as a way to deliver an excellent service and know our customers better; this is why we joined this initiative that integrates talent, commitment, and leadership with the objective to foster an innovation ecosystem that strengthens the regions’ competitiveness,” said José Borda Noriega, Commercial and Digital Executive Director of Arca Continental.

“Banorte sides with the Mexico of the future, and our country’s future is digital. As Mexico’s strong bank, we are committed to promote Mexican entrepreneurs and talent, and the Monterrey Digital Hub is key to lead the coming wave of financial services. We are committed to Monterrey, to Nuevo Leon, and to Mexico,” affirmed Marcos Ramírez Miguel, CEO of Grupo Financiero Banorte.

Fernando A. González, CEO of CEMEX, said: “At CEMEX, we are committed to innovation as a catalyst for the transformation and development of our organization and our communities. With the opening of the Monterrey Digital Hub, we will help to foster the talent needed to transform our country through digital technologies.”

Raúl Martínez Gutiérrez Muguerza, CEO of Deacero, said: “At Deacero, we are aware of the need of digital innovation both in our company and our country to foster a robust economic growth. The Monterrey Digital Hub brings us the opportunity to participate in an ecosystem where this innovation can blossom and spread through our company and the country. We are strongly committed and happy to be part of this initiative.”

“At FEMSA, we are convinced that technology enables us to make the most of our businesses and make a positive impact on the community, which is why we are enthusiastically joining this initiative that represents the entrepreneurial spirit of our corporate and industrial community. The Monterrey Digital Hub is the result of a good-will cooperation that will promote a region focused on knowledge and the development of new capabilities and talent,” said Alfonso Garza Garza, Director of FEMSA Strategic Businesses.

“IBM is proud to participate in this effort aligned to our values of driving progress and changing how the world works by building smarter businesses. As technology partners of the Monterrey Digital Hub, we will bring our leadership, talent, industry expertise and infrastructure in disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, Internet of Things, Blockchain and methodologies such as Agile and Design Thinking, that are key to the Digital Transformation. Innovation & Technology Ecosystems raise local competitiveness and prosperity, and we believe Monterrey has the potential to become one of them,” said Eduardo Gutiérrez, General Manager of IBM Mexico.

“The Monterrey Digital Hub is a one-of-a-kind community in which entrepreneurs, companies, universities, and investors get together to enable a Digital Transformation ecosystem; this represents an excellent environment for NEORIS to generate innovation,” said Martín Méndez, CEO of NEORIS.

“This initiative addresses the need of attracting and retaining talent, which is of great importance facing the 4.0 Industrial Revolution, and places Monterrey at the digital forefront in Mexico. At Tecnológico de Monterrey, we are very proud of being part of this. We are committed to help our country migrate to the knowledge-driven-economy and this project will certainly be key to this transformation,” mentioned Salvador Alva, President of Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Rogelio Garza, Rector of the UANL, said: “the Monterrey Digital Hub is a groundbreaking initiative in a city known to be fearlessly driven by the changes generated by the technological evolution; it is a unique concept located in a space that encourages creativity, that ignites disruptive ideas to generate new alternatives to shorten the transition to the development of new digital business models in a collaborative way, under open innovation processes, with the best talent. The Monterrey Digital Hub could soon turn into the catalyst of the transformation of small, medium, and large companies in the region which have not yet created a strategy to become more efficient in an environment with increasing multiconnected electronic devices, through which a great number of today’s commercial operations and transactions flow. This digital world requires using digital technologies to compete in an unimaginable scale and increase the profitability of the existing business models. Companies now need to break the innovation dilemma, which is to wipe out or transform their current business models into a new, completely digital model, and compete in a new, connected, everchanging world with permanent transformation challenges. Universities also face the same transformation challenges and must undertake the necessary changes in their educational models so they can respond in real time to the development of talent and provide the tools and capabilities needed for these digital transformation processes. This is the reason why the UANL is part of initiatives such as the Monterrey Digital Hub, because we are developing plans, programs, and strategies—such as the UANL 4.0 program—that allow us to properly detect the demands of this new era and the environment. We are convinced that our motto ‘Educate to transform, and transform to transcend’ permeates throughout all our actions and represents the ideology through which the UANL is facing the needs of this new era.”

Antonio J. Dieck Assad, President of UDEM, said: “The global impact of the digital transformation has undoubtedly opened a world of possibilities, demanding new capabilities. The creation of the Monterrey Digital Hub represents an opportunity for the migration, transformation, and refinement of processes, and to open our doors for new generations of digital entrepreneur talent. At UDEM, we share the objective and commitment to position Mexico by fostering the competitive development of innovation and new technologies, as well as to promote the collaboration between different companies and institutions from Monterrey which share the common vision of not only evolve on an internal basis but also make their environment transcend by fostering transformation and thus, generating a bigger impact. We are very proud to participate in this initiative and to be part of an ecosystem that is the result of the digital transformation that Mexico and the world is undertaking.”

This press release contains forward-looking statements and information that are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Monterrey Digital Hub assumes no obligation to update or correct the information contained in this press release.